“On foot or by car?” Carson asked.
“On foot. I don’t have a car on island. Sometimes I’ll use my bike, but I don’t like riding it at night.” She stopped, eyes darting toward Astrid. “I know I shouldn’t go by myself, but I’d done it before. And… well… I guess there’s always the time it’s not okay. Stupid.”
Astrid squeezed her hand. “Don’t think about that right now. What happened next?”
“Somebody jumped me.”
“Did you get a look at your attacker?” Carson asked.
Priya shook her head. “Not clearly. It was dark. I didn’t—” She closed her eyes, brow furrowing, trying to pull the memory back like it was something she could force. “I fought, but I didn’t get a good look. Then he knocked me out.”
“What do you remember happening next?” Grant prompted.
“I didn’t know where I was. I—there was time where I wasn’t… I don’t know. I remember being moved. I remember water sounds. A motor at one point.” She swallowed again, eyes shining. “I remember thinking maybe I was going to drown.”
Which could have meant anything. This was an island. Very few places weren’t near water. Had she been on a boat? Was that how Pool Guy had transported her? Had he been the one to transport her in the first place, or had there been someone else?
But neither Carson nor Grant asked any of those questions.
“Tell us about the man who held you captive,” Carson ordered.
“I knew him from the bar. We played pool a few times. Friendly enough, I thought.”
“You have a name?”
“Wes. I never got his last name.”
I spoke up. “White male. Early thirties. Lean, 5’10’, around 170. Sunburned skin. Longish dark hair. Tattoos on his right forearm—something in the American traditional style. Nautical themed. Olive green cargo pants. Gray henley. He came out alone. Locked up. Didn’t look around like he was afraid.”
“How did you even make the connection?” Carson asked.
I resisted the urge to say, Because I did your job. “Overheard him talking to his buddies about her at Home Port. Nothing overt, but his reactions struck me as odd, so we followed when he left and ended up out in the marshes.”
Carson’s jaw flexed once. “Where is this individual now?”
“Dunno. He headed back toward the marina. We didn’t engage when he left, electing to search the premises for Priya. When we found her, we brought her straight here.”
Carson didn’t like that. I saw it in the tension around his eyes. He swallowed it anyway.
“Miss Shah,” he said, voice tight, “did he harm you in any way?”
Priya shook her head quickly. “No. He brought water. Food. Not enough, but… he did.” Her voice went raw. “He didn’t let me go.”
“Did he threaten you?” Carson pressed.
Priya’s hands curled on the sheet. “He kept saying… I wasn’t safe. He kept saying if I left, someone would find me.”
“Someone,” Carson repeated.
Priya’s eyes squeezed shut. “I don’t know who. I didn’t see anyone else there. I just—” She looked at Gabi, pleading. “I just knew he believed it.”
Gabi kept her expression neutral, but her eyes softened a fraction. “You’re doing fine. Take your time.”
Carson scribbled a few more notes before shutting the notebook with a sharp motion like he’d reached the end of what he could get without pushing her into a spiral. “We’ll have more questions later. Right now, the priority is locating Wes and bringing him in. Where can we find you?”
Astrid stepped forward, voice steady. “She’s staying with me.”
Carson’s gaze snapped to her. “We’ll need?—”
